Plaffoniers - in antique lighting terms 'ceiling lights' which are not antique chandeliers and are generally fitted close to the ceiling . Often made from alabaster or glass and bowl like in shape . The correct spelling is actually Plafonniers , but over the years the Plaffonier spelling seems the most popular .
Plaffoniers can also double as antique chandeliers if they have arms but are usually used in lower ceiling or bathroom environments unless they are very grand .
Hanging antique lights are what they say on the tin - without arms and not chandeliers but can be any sort of construction , design or style .
Chandeliers are candle carrying lights which point upwards and any light that does not have upward pointing arms is not a chandelier but will be either a hanging light or an electrolier ( usually Edwardian with downward pointing lights ) or a Plaffonier .
Antique lighting is always representative of the period of technology that it sits in, and because some plaffoniers have arms they have been adapted as chandeliers in the same way as gasoliers have been . Plaffoniers and hanging lights are generally newer ie early 20th C onwards as they may lack the ability to carry candles or to have been previously for gas . In this respect of course we do not include lanterns which area whole different category .
